A cleaner St. Clair River is worth celebrating

Port Huron City Manager James Freed speaks with Patty Troy, chairwoman of the St. Clair River Binational Public Advisory Committee, during a celebration of the removal of a beneficial use impairment from the St. Clair River.(Photo: Bob Gross, Times Herald)Buy Photo

The Great Lakes are too important for partisan politics, said U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell.

"You're standing at why it's so important," said Mitchell, who was at the Blue Water River Walk ferry dock Thursday as part of a celebration of the removal of a beneficial use impairment from the St. Clair River.

He said a $300 million appropriation for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which had been cut from a White House budget proposal, has been restored and is in the House Appropriations Committee.

The GLRI, he said, provides seed money for projects such as the River Walk.

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Officials and volunteers celebrate a cleaner St. Clair River
Bob Gross, Times Herald

The U.S. has spent about $21 million through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative on 10 projects in St. Clair County since 2011 to improve and restore fish and wildlife habitat in and along the St. Clair River.

The projects are scattered along the 44 miles of the river.

Thursday's event, sponsored by the Friends of the St. Clair River and the St. Clair River Binational Public Advisory Council, was to celebrate removal of the bird or animal deformities reproductive problems beneficial use impairment.

A beneficial use impairment is something that keeps the river from being enjoyed the way it historically was used. Ten beneficial use impairments were identified in the St. Clair River; the removal of the bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems impairment leaves three.

The St. Clair River was identified in 1978 as an area of concern, one of 14 in Michigan and 43 on the Great Lakes.

The loss of fish and wildlife habitat impairment likely will be the next beneficial use impairment to be checked off the list. It has been approved by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the St. Clair River Binational Public Advisory Council. Rose Ellison, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office, said the beneficial use impairment removal is in the system and likely will be approved soon.

Patty Troy, U.S. BPAC chairwoman, said removing beneficial use impairments is a big deal.

"You hear people talking today about what this area was like a generation ago," she said.

She referenced sewer overflows, unregulated chemical releases and the Blob — a gelatinous ooze of chemicals infesting the sediments of the river.

"The improvements we have seen are the result of regulations and the funding to do these restorations and studies," she said.

"The fish and the wildlife are healthier," Troy said. "That's going to lead to healthier people, too."

Tim Lozen was BPAC chairman in the 1980s and 1990s.

"I think this is great," he said. "A lot of exciting things things about it, but the most exciting is to see the success of the collaborative approach."

He said the effort to clean up the St. Clair River pulled together people from government, from regulatory agencies, from business and from the communities on both sides of the border.

"None of them trusted each other," he said.

"The partners, to their credit, stuck it out. ... To see it come to fruition is just so exciting."

Removal of beneficial use impairments started in 2009 with removal of restriction of dredging activities followed by: added costs to agriculture or industry, 2011; tainting of fish or wildlife flavor, 2012; degradation of aesthetics, 2012; degradation of benthos (river bottom), 2014; and beach closings, which BPAC celebrated in 2016.

The remaining two are drinking water taste and odor problems and restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross